


Lights on the Water

by vega_voices



Series: Sleeps with Butterflies [32]
Category: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-28
Updated: 2011-05-28
Packaged: 2017-10-19 21:00:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/205151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vega_voices/pseuds/vega_voices
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>When Catherine and Nick had heard his time in Peru was up and there was a lag between assignments, meaning he’d actually be in Vegas, the party had been arranged. Gil was surprised at just how happy he was to celebrate the night with his friends.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lights on the Water

_**CSI: Lights on the Water**_  
 **Title:** Lights on the Water  
 **Author:** [](http://vegawriters.livejournal.com/profile)[**vegawriters**](http://vegawriters.livejournal.com/)  
 **Fandom:** CSI  
 **Pairing:** GSR  
 **Timeframe:** Post season 11  
 **Rating:** Teen  
 **A/N:** This is part of the [Sleeps with Butterflies](http://vega-voices.livejournal.com/tag/sleeps%20with%20butterflies) series.  
 **Disclaimer:** I have no financial claim to these characters and when we go play, I do things that TPTB have said shouldn’t happen.

 **Summary:** _When Catherine and Nick had heard his time in Peru was up and there was a lag between assignments, meaning he’d actually be in Vegas, the party had been arranged. Gil was surprised at just how happy he was to celebrate the night with his friends._

Blue lights reflected on the water below the deck of the restaurant. The tables were set with white flower center pieces and long tapered candles tucked into hurricanes that cast flickering light around the space. Purple ribbons curled around the folding chairs, blowing in the light breeze. Greg had set up a small sound system and easy, jazzy music flowed from the speakers and close to the edge of the deck, there was space for dancing.

Gil and Sara had never had a reception. Their wedding announcement had been an email and photo of the two of them in front of the mission in Costa Rica sent en masse to their friends. They’d left the research team behind with plans to backpack through Europe for their honeymoon. While canoeing in a little harbor in Greece he told her about the offer from the Sorbonne and watched her face fall slightly at the idea of giving up their gypsy lifestyle for days of torpor and academia. To make it up to her, their first anniversary had been spent in an elegant bed and breakfast in Rome, but now for the first time, they could celebrate in their home, here in Vegas.

When Catherine and Nick had heard his time in Peru was up and there was a lag between assignments, meaning he’d actually be in Vegas, the party had been arranged. Gil was surprised at just how happy he was to celebrate the night with his friends.

It was a small gathering; the graveyard shift at CSI including Doc Robbins and Dave, Jim, and Sofia. But it was a party a long time coming. The team had never had time to congratulate them. They’d learned about him and Sara because of Natalie but before anything had really been explained, Sara had fled. By the time she’d returned to Vegas, his ring on her finger, they were settling into living life on opposite sides of the planet.

Tonight they could remedy all of the hiccups and missteps that had come along with telling their friends about their relationship. Tonight was something he’d never been sure he’d want to have happen, but to be here with Sara, he was glad. This was his wife, and every time he looked at her, he still got butterflies in his stomach and the world needed to know it.

Gil glanced around the deck, unable to truly relax. Even in front of close friends, showing off his bride was nerve wracking and the gentle, father-figure ribbing had already begun from Robbins and Jim. He still wondered how much to divulge, how much Sara was willing to speak to. They’d spent years hiding themselves and their relationship and even though they had grown past the people they’d been, there was still a sense of worry.

He’d been married to Sara for two years and loved her for almost fifteen, and he still worried what people might think.

But there she was, stepping onto the deck, dressed in an ankle length purple and white summer dress. A pair of pearl-colored high heeled sandals poked out under the skirt and a white orchid was tucked into her hair. It was the dress she’d been married in. Tears touched his eyes.

He loved her.

***

Until he married Sara, there were truths about himself that he’d always denied. He’d never allowed himself to be romantic, to send flowers and plants randomly, to leave mushy text messages for her to wake up to, or to dance the night away at romantic lake view restaurants.

But since saying “I Do” in the small mission church in Costa Rica, he’d learned married life was more than sharing interests. It was about reaching out and touching, holding. It was about spinning her across the floor and bringing her back into his arms. It was about her cheek resting against his and their fingers linked together.

The music spun around them as again, as the skirt twirled around her legs. A light breeze blew across the patio just as he dipped her and then brought her to her feet again. This woman, this beautiful, young creature had agreed to marry him. There were moments when the shock still overwhelmed him.

The song came to an end and their assembled friends, who were all standing at their seats at the tables, all burst into applause. Nick came to his feet. “Speech!” He demanded. “Speech!”

Gil chuckled, linked his fingers in Sara’s, and paused to look into her eyes. She winked playfully and he turned back to their friends. “I got a lot of guff over the years for being a lonely bachelor. The truth was, that I was. Even when Sara was here, I never … I was scared to allow myself to love her and because of that, I came so close to losing her. Too close.” Sara’s fingers tightened in his and he could tell she was blushing. She was so beautiful when she blushed. “But she took me back and she said yes, a second time, to marrying me.”

Sara laughed and ducked her head. The server came by with champagne and she passed on it, with a wink to him, and he chuckled. Gil could see Catherine’s brain working overtime, but the truth was that Sara’s upset stomach had little to do with success in their efforts to get pregnant. Her cramps were worse than usual this month and the amount of Midol she’d consumed had made her sick. Nick came over to them and smiled and Sara offered him a tight hug. The rest of the team followed.

“I never said thank you for finding her,” Grissom said to his former pupil. “I could have lost everything in the desert that day.”

Sara shook her head. “I was just taking a nap. I’d have been fine.” But the silence that greeted her attempt at a joke reminded all of them just how close it had been. Another hour and this dinner would never have happened.

“So,” Jim spoke up. It was his third bourbon and his inhibitions were lifted but he was sober enough to know that it was time to change the subject. “You’ve never actually told us how you two met. All we knew was that eleven years ago, Gil Grissom brought in this “friend” from San Francisco to help on a case.” He snorted and took a drink. “Friend my ass.”

Sara grinned slyly. “We met at a forensic conference in San Francisco.”

“No, no, no.” Nick shook his head. He too was flushing on too much to drink. “There’s more to the story than that.”

“Really, there’s not. Not to how we met anyway. There might be more to the story of how we got together, but that’s not what Jim asked.” Sara winked and sipped at her ginger ale. “He was presenting and I went up afterward and asked about a million questions and soon we decided to continue the conversation over dinner. And dessert.” She paused for effect, leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. Gil blushed but let her continue. “And breakfast.”

Gil smiled at how both Jim and Nick simultaneously coughed on their drinks. He took a sip of his own. Sara moved to sit and the discussion moved with her back to their table. Gil took a place behind her and rubbed her back lightly.

“Were you two together when Grissom asked you to come to Vegas?” Nick looked a bit like a lost puppy.

Sara sighed and leaned back into Gil’s hands. “Yes and no, Nick. And I can’t really give you more than that because it was a confusing time for us. It took us a long time to figure ourselves out.”

“Fair enough.” Nick smiled. Sara sipped again at her ginger ale.

“When did you propose?” It was Catherine’s turn to be nosy. She put herself in the chair next to Sara. “And why isn’t there an engagement ring?”

Sara giggled. “He was messing with this bee colony and he convinces me to take off my glove and while a bee is crawling on me, he asks me to marry him. Naturally, I freak, and the damned bee stings me.”

“I really didn’t think …”

Sara giggled again. Grissom pinched her lightly. She swatted him right back.

“What,” Greg laughed, “you were testing to see how much she’d freak out?”

“He says it was an innocent mistake.” Sara rolled her eyes. “But he made up for it.”

“How?”

“I followed her to Costa Rica,” Gil looked into Sara’s eyes, “and when she didn’t kick me out of her tent, I asked her to marry me. She told me she’d already said yes.”

“I think I just went into a diabetic coma from all the sugar in the air,” Jim snorted, but he was laughing. He put his empty glass down on the table and held his hand out to Sara. “May I have this dance?”

“Of course,” she smiled and took his hand. Gil watched his old friend lead her into the small dance floor.

“She’s different since she came back,” Catherine’s voice is soft at his side. “She’s grounded. She isn’t as angry.”

“She found her peace, Catherine.” He smiled. “We both did.”

Catherine grinned and put her hand on his arm. “Can I have this dance, Gil?”

He took her hand and led her onto the dance floor.

~fin~


End file.
